Here, you can find our chat with our picked authors about their mindblowing and heartwrenching stories about touching friendships, unbreakable bonds, and close tight relationships in the family.
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Set in the fictional suburb of San Aburrido, Favorite Friend follows the story of seventeen-year-old Felipe Rivera as he navigates his crush on his best friend Aaron and his anxiety disorder during the last summer before college.
Philline Harms is a Watty-award-winning writer of queer contemporary YA romances including Never Kiss Your Roommate and Love And Other Wicked Things, which is set for publication in 2023. When she's not working on a novel, she can be found analyzing her friends' birth charts, drinking her body weight in tea, or crafting obscurely specific Spotify playlists—sometimes simultaneously. Living in Germany, she is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Psychology.
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"I wish I could remember if I felt this way about him then. Sometimes I think that loving Aaron is as much part of me as the color of my eyes or my peanut allergy. It's like a law of nature: the sun is warm. The sky is blue. Felipe loves Aaron. After all these years, I can't imagine it any other way."
- from Favorite Friend
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Q. What made you start writing on Wattpad? What is the most memorable moment you have encountered here?
I started writing on Wattpad in 2016 after a friend recommended it to me! She was telling me about how she'd found an app where you can read stories for free. At first, I thought it was a scam because that sounded too good to be true, but then I downloaded it and immediately fell in love!
As for my most memorable moment, it probably has to be the first time someone messaged me to tell me my stories had helped them come out to their parents. To know that my writing had touched someone like that was such a surreal, rewarding feeling.
Q. Your book "Favorite Friend" is about the story of two male best friends who did their best to save themselves and their friendship from falling apart, but eventually, conquered their fears and admitted their feelings for each other. How did you come up with this storyline? According to you, what makes their friendship dynamic special?
Going into "Favorite Friend", I knew from the beginning that I wanted it to be a best-friends-to-lovers story. I adore this trope (possibly more than enemies-to-lovers! Controversial, I know) because of the intimacy and trust that already exists between the characters. Especially in the context of queer teenagers, I think that falling for your best friend is something that a lot of us go through—it's a bit of a rite of passage if you will. In Feli and Aaron's case, I wanted it to be obvious how deep their trust in each other goes and how much of their childhood and formative years have revolved around the other person. There's something very pure and nostalgic about their dynamic, with all its inside jokes and routines. At the same time, there's a co-dependency there that I found important for both of them to overcome for their relationship to evolve into something even more meaningful.
Q. What are your favorite details/scenes in your story? Do you have a scene that is very special to you about their friendship?
One of my favorite scenes is in the fourth chapter when Feli has an anxiety attack thinking about the uncertainty of his future in college and decides to call up Aaron. When he gets to Aaron's house, they talk about his fears and eventually end up falling asleep in the same bed. This scene is so special to me because it highlights the sheer trust they hold for each other, and the vulnerability they don't show in front of anyone else. There's a line that goes "When Aaron talks about things, they always seem way less scary. He's Atlas holding up the sky when I feel like it's falling " that I think sums up a lot of what Aaron is to Feli. Another scene I love is in the second chapter when Aaron and Feli go on a drive after Feli's therapy session together. Both are very quiet, tender scenes filled with yearning, but also with a feeling of safety that can only exist between people who've known each other all their lives.
Q. Is this the story you enjoy writing the most so far? If not, which one is it? And why?
I love all of my children equally, but "Favorite Friend" has been one of my favorites to write! The whole plot unfolded organically, and the response the story got while it was posted was so rewarding. I still feel like coming back to Aaron and Feli every time summer comes around :).
Q. What famous friendship/family relationship in fiction or media works that you are obsessed with?
My favorite families are usually found, in families! I think the crows from Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows are an amazing example of this trope. Give me a group of misfits who would lay down their life for each other in a heartbeat and I will eat it up.
Q. What is your advice for new writers who want to try writing themes revolving around a healthy relationship, especially with LGBTQIA+, and raising mental health awareness themes?
I would encourage you to always listen to your gut! In my experience, especially mental health is a topic that requires a lot of research, but also a lot of self-reflection. The same goes for relationships, queer or not! Think about what you think makes a relationship feel believable and balanced. Give your characters a reason to be together aside from convenient plot reasons—give them shared interests or values, shared experiences that they can bond over, ways in which they make each other better, inside jokes, and so on. Also: communication!!!
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Thank you so much for joining this talk! Have you read "Favorite Friend"? If not, you should check it out now.
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